Startup World Cup, a global startup pitch competition with a $1,000,000 grand investment prize, is back in Bulgaria co-hosted by Global Tech Summit – the leading technology event in Eastern Europe – for another exciting competition — searching for the next world champion among the best startups from around the globe. Beyond finding great startup companies, the mission of Startup World Cup is to support the development and growth of innovation ecosystems in regions across the planet, and connect them to a global innovation network.
The Startup World Cup Grand Finale has featured prominent figures from the high tech community, including Steve Wozniak (Co-Founder of Apple), Reid Hoffman (Founding CEO of LinkedIn), Marcelo Claure (COO of SoftBank Group), Tim Westergren (Founder & Former CEO of Pandora), Ray Lane (Former President & COO of Oracle), Marc Randolph (Co-Founder of Netflix), Adam Cheyer (Co-Founder of Siri), Vinod Khosla (Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems), John Chambers (Chairman Emeritus of Cisco), Window Snyder (Former CSSO of Intel), and more. Startup World Cup had veteran investors from Kleiner Perkins, Y Combinator, NEA, Techstars, Intel Capital, M12, 500 Startups, GE Ventures, DFJ, IBM Ventures, Social Capital, Index Ventures, and Plug and Play Ventures, as well as investors from all over the world, judging the global and regional finals.
Startups interested in global exposure, mentorship from global investors, and significant prize money are encouraged to apply for any of the Startup World Cup 2020 regional competitions.
All the winners of the regional competitions will participate in the Grand Finale in San Francisco in May 2020 (May-22-2020).
Prior to the Grand Finale in San Francisco, the winners of the regional competitions in Europe will also take part in a continental championship with a chance to win $500,000 investment prize from the local sponsors.
Thousands of startups from all around the world applied to the 2019 competition. Winners from 36 regional events across six continents pitched their startups at the Grand Finale in San Francisco in May 2019. Vietnamese startup Abivin beat all competitors and took home the $1,000,000 investment prize. Abivin leverages artificial intelligence to drive its logistics optimization platform. Canadian startup Klue, which provides competitive intelligence software for enterprise sales teams, was the second place. US-based Sonavi Labs, which develops smart stethoscopes, came in third.
Prior to the Grand Finale in San Francisco, the winners of the regional competitions in Europe participated in a continental championship, the Startup World Cup Summit in Prague. The winner of that competition, Mimbly from Sweden, won a $500,000 investment prize from the local sponsors, Up21 and Air Ventures. Mimbly has developed a cleantech solution for wastewater from laundries, saving money and water, and reducing microplastic pollution.
Regional and Global Sponsors
The local sponsor of Startup World Cup is Innovation Center that offers the only acceleration program for Eastern European company in Silicon Valley.
Startup World Cup is sponsored by a large group of international corporations, accounting firms and law firms, including Microsoft, SEGA Sammy, EY, Deloitte, Orrick, Wiley Rein, and others. Sponsors support the mission of Startup World Cup to find the most promising startups and connect them with regional and global thought leaders, corporate partners and investors.
About Startup World Cup
To advance the goal of building a broad global network of corporate partners, venture investors and startup companies, Pegasus Tech Ventures organized the Startup World Cup, now one of the largest startup competitions worldwide – with startup competition events in over 36 cities around the world, across six continents, and a $1,000,000 grand investment prize. Startup World Cup reflects the Pegasus commitment to finding the best startup companies across the globe and supporting innovation ecosystems worldwide. For more information about Startup World Cup, visit www.startupworldcup.io.
About Pegasus Tech Ventures
Pegasus Tech Ventures, headquartered in Silicon Valley, is a global venture capital firm with offices across North America, Europe and Asia. Pegasus takes a novel approach through its Venture Capital-as-a-Service (VCaaS) model, managing multiple funds for well-known, global corporations, investing into cutting-edge technology startups, and connecting portfolio companies to its global corporate partners network to accelerate growth. For more information about Pegasus Tech Ventures, visit www.pegasustechventures.com.